Cinefantastique Online

It was a duel between one screen psycho and another, as 3:10 TO YUMA (starring AMERICAN PSYCHO’s Christian Bale) outgunned HALLOWEEN (about an escaped madman returning to his home town on the titular holiday). The Lionsgate Western earned an $14.1-million during its debut, while the Rob Zombie remake, which slashed its way through $10-million for its sophomore session.

That was $20-million less that HALLOWEEN made the previous weekend, when its opening exceeded expectations. Despite the precipitous drop, the film has still earned $44.2-million in only two weeks, turning it into a certified profit-maker, thanks to its low budget. Nevertheless, a film that debuts with $30-million would normally be expected to end up with a total in the area of $75-million. At this rate, the final cume should fall in the low 50s, well short of the $70+ million earned by 1408.

There was little other box office news for sci-fi, fantasy, and horror films. The only other genre title to merit a mention is STARDUST, which fell from the Top Ten, landing at #11 in its fifth week of release. The unfortunately overlooked fantasy film earned $1.8-million, raising its total to $34.6-million.

Of tangential interest, the revenge melodrama DEATH SENTENCE fell from #8 to #12 in its second weekend, earning $1.6-million for a two-week total of $7.9-million. With this and DEAD SILENCE, perhaps writer-director James Wan should consider forgoing titles with the initials “D.S.” if he ever hopes to recapture the box office success of his debut, SAW.

Read the complete Top Ten here.